Welcome to The Mayfair Mall Zine

The date was the 24th May 2003, the venue Pennington's in Bradford, the festival - The Gods 2003. Talon were the first band to hit the stage that day and my goodness did they blow the cobwebs from the rafters that day and then some. We've loved this band since their debut release and were totally blown away by their live performance that day. Fast-forward to 2011 and the band are celebrating the release of their stunning new third album, simply entitled 'III'. We catch up with drummer John Parker to find out how things are going in the Talon camp.

MM - Thanks for taking the time out to answer a few questions.
JP - You're welcome Linda, my pleasure!

MM - Secondly congratulations on the excellent new album ‘III’, which is a really great return and one of my albums of the year for sure.
JP - Thanks – glad you like it! The response has been amazing!

MM - This new album sees the band return with a more edgy sound that is very reminiscent of the bands self title debut album, was this a conscious decision or did it just evolve that way?
JP - It was a discussion we had during writing for this CD and we just felt we wanted to go back to the feel and sound of our debut album – but having the additional element of keyboards now allowed us to add some texture and an “AOR” vibe to a few of the songs. It has some newer elements – but still rocks!

MM - This is the bands third album and the third with a different lead singer, are the band settled now with Shawn Pelata fronting the band?
JP - Yes, each album had its own story and situation – Shawn did an outstanding job on the new CD and will be our vocalist going forward for future releases.

MM - What was it about Shawn that you thought he was the right guy for the band?
JP - We knew of Shawn from other musicians and also his work in Line of Fire, a great band that has put out 2 albums. When we started looking, he was at the top of our list as we thought his voice would be a great fit for our music – and it turned out be right ! We approached him with the offer and he was up for the challenge! Plus, he is a great guy and total family man!

MM - Do you think that the changes in the bands line-up over the years have led to finding the real Talon both musically and spiritually?
JP - The “core 4” of us have been together over 15 years now, so the musical direction has always been there – the one area that has evolved over the years has been the vocalist spot – but we have had 3-6 years between releases for various reasons and time does move on for some. We are more at ease with who we are now and what we are looking for in our music and do appreciate the opportunity to still record and release albums that fans all over the world enjoy!

MM - How long did it take to put the album together, were there any trials or tribulations along the way?
JP - The entire timeline took about a year. We spent 3-4 months writing, 3 months tracking in Arkansas and North Carolina, and another 3-4 months for mixing and mastering – there were a couple breaks in-between because both the band and our Producer had other projects that needed work on also.

MM - The band is now signed to Escape Music, again the power of three, the bands third label in as many albums. What was it about Escape Music that sealed the deal with this UK based label?
JP - We were working with 2 labels, but in the end we choose Escape Music as we felt they were truly behind the release – they enjoyed the album and were truly interested in doing all they could to promote it. We just felt Khalil and Barrie were working with us a team and that was the main thing we were looking for. It was also important to us to have a European presence that we did not have on our previous label. We do this for the love of what we do - the industry cannot support large amounts of money anymore for our genre of music, so you have to go into it nowadays with that mindset.

MM - This year saw the band take to the stage for Firefest, how was it, did it bring back memories of Firefest 5?
JP - It sure did ..... once we were confirmed for Firefest 2011, we knew it would be a great time as we had awesome memories from the last Firefest we played.

We played the last Gods Festival (2003), then had the pleasure to play Firefest 5 in 2008 for the “Fallen Angels” release, and then the most recent Firefest – all the U.K. audiences (and really other fans from over 20 counties) each time we have played have been the best! When we watch back on each of the shows, it just reminds us of the best shows we have ever played!

MM - You also played at the Melodic Rock Fest 2, which was filmed. Can we expect a live DVD release from the band soon?
JP - Yes, that was a great show also we played in Chicago and we did film the set. It was a 6 camera HD shoot and it will be edited in early 2012 for a near-future release on Blu-Ray and DVD!

MM - As well as a new frontman, we have also seen a Melodic Rock favourite in Eric Ragno join the band, how did Eric come to get involved with the band and the album?
JP - I first met Eric in 2007 as we were preparing songs to do as an “All Star” band that was picked by Andrew McNiece to open the 1^st MelodicRockFest in Indiana. It was us and Michael Eden (Eden’s Curse), Vic Rivera (Crunch, Adriangale) and Doug Odell (Crunch, Ted Poley) that learned songs separately and really just all met the day before and just blasted through some great covers! Since then we have been great friends as we hit it off well together. When the sessions started for “III”, I asked if he could track all keyboards for our album and also play with us at the 2^nd MelodicRockFest in Chicago as it was at the same time. That all went so well that we brought him on as a member of Talon! Eric is a stand-up guy that has toured with so many artists over the years and it is an honor to have him on board!

MM - The album also boasts a guest appearance of another MR favourite Jeff Scott Soto on ‘Take You All The Way’, how did Jeff get involved?
JP - Jeff and I have been friends for several years as we have played a few shows together over that time. When we were writing “Take You All The Way”, it just had that feel of a JSS vocal that would just naturally fit. I asked him if he would be interested and sent him a rough mix of the track – and he said “let’s go for it” ! Jeff is an amazing talent that a lot of musicians admire and personally I have seen his total commitment to everything that he takes on. A true professional ......

MM - Where does Talon go from here, what does 2012 have in store for the band?
JP - Well, we are currently promoting “III” (go buy your copy right now!) and over the next few months we will start writing songs for our next album. Also, we will be editing our HD Shoot in Chicago for a future release! A couple of us will also be working on projects we can’t discuss yet ... but some amazing stuff!

We'd like to thank John for taking time out of his busy schedule to chat with us today and look forward to seeing a lot of him and the guys on these shores in future. If you haven't already checked out their new album 'III' then make sure you do, it's a corker!